Caribou, NS

Saturday June 21…11:00pm

We didn’t get on the road until about noon. Said goodbye to our couchsurfing friends, and headed north towards Cape George. We had read about some good hiking trails that start around the Cape George lighthouse.  There is a
day use area there which is run by the North Shore Development Association and a volunteer system that looks after the trails. We were pleased to find trail maps at the parking area and lots of signs highlighting the entrance to the trail. We decided on a route that would take us about 10 km’s, and started out. You could tell the trail was not well used, but that they had done some work recently in clearing trees that had fallen during the winter. And although the path itself wasn’t well worn, there were lots of trail markers. We came to one area that afforded a beautiful view of the coast leading back to Antigonish harbour, but shortly after that we found ourselves clamboring over trees that hadn’t yet been cleared. And eventually, it got so bad the the trail was blocked entirely and we couldn’t go further.

Sherman parked up at our couchsurfing friends in Antigonish

So although we were pleased that they had maps available and the trail was well marked, this was one trail where they should have had a sign saying the trail was closed at a certain point. We haven’t had a lot of luck with good hiking trails lately! So we ended up doing only about 4 km’s today.

Sherman parked up at our couchsurfing friends in Antigonish

We drove west from Cape George, heading towards Pictou and the Caribou ferry crossing to PEI. We had planned on finding an overnight spot and then exploring Pictou, but nothing suitable came up and before we knew it we were parked at the Caribou harbour where the ferry itself departs. They do have a section where all the fishing boats are and we decided to park in that area for the night. We watched the ferry come and go several times this evening and decided to take the first crossing tomorrow morning which leaves at 9:30am. This crossing is free…you only pay when you leave the island, and we’ll be leaving the island by the Confederation Bridge so we’ll be paying then. I think it’s something around $41 to go back over the bridge, and it would have been $82 had we returned to the mainland via the ferry. A bit of a strange system, but keep in mind it’s run by the governement.

Our fuel tank is pretty much empty. In fact we’ve never had it this low, but I believe the reserve is something like 15 gallons so once it reads empty we can still travel quite a distance. I planned this on purpose, because gas on the island is only about $1.36, whereas it’s $1.45 here. So when you’re buying 100 or 200 litres, that price difference adds up!

Total Nights Sleeping in the RV…244

June Fuel $ 381.24

June Grocery $ 509.47

June Overnight Costs $ 58.56